5 /5 DM Corrales: I attended service for the first time today at Our Lady of Lourdes after reading both the negative and positive reviews. I found the church beautiful, but different than the standard church, notably, there were an absence of Saints along the walls as in most traditional churches. However, that didn’t dissuade me from liking the building and its presentation. The service was actually traditional (which I found surprising after reading the negative comments about the liberal take of service). I also found it quite educational and interesting. Fr Phil explained about the importance of Samuel and the division of how time was thereafter experienced after Samuel (as in B.C vs A.D., as example). I’ve read the bible several times in my life yet didn’t know this. It gave me a depth of understanding as one does when learning of one’s own ancestors in a family lineage. Some things just click into place. Anyway, I appreciated the overhead projection of the words to the songs and the responses to the service as it’d been a while since I’d been to church. I felt comfortable and felt part of the congregation, which, was a full house! I saw joy in the faces of those present, a comfortable community and a focus towards service as a form of worship. I read how some commenters in these reviews found the structure and presentation basically disrespectful. I beg to differ. Fr Phil has taken this congregation and the concept of service and has allowed the evolution of Faith in a modern world. Jesus was not a conformist. He came to stir the pot and allow for a new evolution of how to see God and how to worship and how to better serve one’s brethren. In nature, that which doesn’t change, dies. Faith, I believe, is the same. We live with a love for a God we cannot see and live in a universe where most is still unknowable by humanity. It stands to reason that just as Earth itself evolves and changes, perhaps God also evolves through our evolution, through experiencing what His Creation lives through, thereby allowing for infinite love to also evolve to greater depths in us (this is my thought, not the church’s). It’s all a bit mysterious, really. But I digress. In conclusion, I found the service wonderfully appropriate and I noted (as one who is attuned to spiritual healing), that when everyone stood to pray, there was a light that filled the church that went beyond the light from the building. It happened every time there was prayer. So my conclusion is, something is being done right at this church. There was a cafe with food for those wishing to partake after service and again, I was simply impressed by the friendliness and connection of those present. If I had anything negative to say (which I don’t), I’d say Fr. Phil looked tired (and who wouldn’t with so many responsibilities!), and sitting in the back, I wished that one of the screens (both gave a Spanish translation of the service), would have been in English as it was a bit difficult to hear. But I got the gist and that was good enough. I will most definitely be returning and I will see where I can be of most service within this lovely community of people.
